But we frequently get confronted by the omissions and embellishments, which were on vivid display in the back-to-back debates between the vice presidential and US Senate candidates.

Ryan took a swing at Barack Obama's response to the attack on the Libyan consulate in his showdown with Joe Biden last night, accusing the administration of failing to provide adequate security.

What the House Budget Committee Chairman neglected to mention was that his own party not only refused to provide the funds sought by the Obama administration for embassy security, they cut them, and blew the CIA cover story in the process, an "inconvenient truth" that Ryan overlooked.

Which brings me to the King of Embellishment, Scott Brown.

The man who met with kings and queens, wasn't simply willing to stand on the facts of his 32-year career as a National Guard lawyer, service of which he should be rightly proud.

But Brown had to take it to the next level, talking about "when he served in Afghanistan," a significant embellishment of a two-week tour in which one analyst said involved Brown being "in the rear with the gear."